End of an era as banks eye commodities exits

JPMorgan Chase’s announcement Friday that it will look to exit the physical commodities business steps up the pressure on rivals to follow suit. “All the banks with commodity units are watching and waiting to see if regulators will force them out of physical commodity trading completely or [require them to] make a minor modification. There is no panic but there is a high level of anxiety,” says George Stein, managing director of recruiting firm Commodity Talent LLC.
Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley have owned physical commodities assets to supplement their ownership of paper assets going back as far as the 1980s. They continue to be major players in physical commodities, as do other global banking and securities giants such as Citigroup, Bank of America, Barclays, Deutsche Bank and Credit Suisse………………………………………..Full Article: Source